


Apricity

by Dressed_In_Darkness



Series: Resistance [2]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alpha Eren Yeager, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Bottom Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Consensual Sex, Knotting, M/M, Mating Bites, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mpreg, Omega Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), POV First Person, Scent Marking, Smut, Top Eren Yeager
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-02
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2019-10-02 12:49:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17264540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dressed_In_Darkness/pseuds/Dressed_In_Darkness
Summary: The story of how Levi gets pregnant, set in the Resistance universe.





	1. Part One - As Lovers

**Author's Note:**

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[1]

 

_Sunday, December 10, 2017 – Eren_

 

Love. I never expected it to find me at the lowest point in my life. The war had turned the world into an ugly, foreign place, and I had changed right along with it. All those years of fighting made me lose sight of who I was. I became someone unrecognizable, a monster disguised in human skin. How could love matter when all I knew was bloodshed, pain, and loss? What difference could it make after everything I’d seen? Everything I’d done? But then I met Levi, and I understood that love made all the difference in the world. He brought me back from being too far gone. He showed me there were things in this life worth fighting for. And I had fought for him, for us. And I would do it all again if it meant being here with him now.

     Things could never go back to the way they were before the war. We had both changed too much for that, but we learned that we could build a life together. It took time and patience, and things weren’t always easy, but a life with him was more than I could ever ask for. It was everything.

     _You’re thinking too loud, Alpha,_ Levi said through our bond. _I can’t concentrate._ He sat cross-legged on the living room floor before the wood stove, a book Hanji had brought him weeks ago flipped open on his lap. The way his head was angled down allowed the light from the fire to dance across his face in deep shades of yellow. He looked so beautiful to me in that moment that it made my entire being ache.

     “Too loud,” he repeated, this time choosing to speak aloud as he turned the page.

     _Sorry, but you’re so beautiful I don’t know what to do with myself._

     He slid off his reading glasses and looked at me over his shoulder. “Are you going to do this every time I sit down to read?”

     “Perhaps,” I said, scooting off the couch. I sat down behind him and pulled him onto my lap. I felt his weight settle into me as he relaxed. “Am I being a nuisance? I can always go gather some firewood, give you some space.”

     “You’re saying this _after_ distracting me?”

     I touched my lips to the side of his neck, over his bond mark. His skin was so warm and smelled of woodsmoke. “I’d like to distract you even more.”

     He turned in my lap and pushed my hair back away from my face, just looking at me. Then he ran the pad of his thumb across my left eyelid. It was the eye that the Alpha serum had ruined. Even now, two years after the war had ended, it remained black as coal. It was a constant reminder of what we had gone through for each other. If only it would return to normal, then we wouldn’t have to remember those painful days. I wanted to forget how the serum almost changed me, how it made me do things I could never take back.

     So many things I could never take back...

     “This mark...” I touched his scent gland with the back of my fingers. “Do you think about how I gave it to you?”

     “It doesn’t matter how you gave it to me. I wanted it.”

     “But that’s not how it was supposed to happen. I wanted to do it differently.”

     “Shh.” He bumped his forehead against mine. “I wanted to be yours more than anything. I let you bond mark me, and I don’t regret it. Do you?”

     “You know that’s not what I mean.”

     Reaching out, he caressed the mark he’d given me and our connection deepened. His emotions flowed through me, unreserved. I felt how much it pained him to see me hurting about the past. _Stop torturing yourself with things you can’t change. If you hadn’t given me this mark when you did, I would have lost all hope back then. Being bonded to you kept me going through those months we were apart. You can’t imagine how many times just running my fingers over the imprint you left brought me back from the edge._

“It brought me back too, more times than I can count,” I said.

     “Then stop beating yourself up for how it happened.” His voice was leveled and controlled, much sharper than it was when he spoke to me through our bond. It was still hard for him to open up to me like this. “I’ve opened up to you plenty enough,” he added, in answer to my thoughts.

     “I know.”

     He patted me on the shoulder, awkward as he hid his embarrassment. Then he was up on his feet and walking into the kitchen, where he checked on the cookies that were baking in the oven. Today Hanji and Isabel were coming to visit for emergency holiday purposes. Whenever they dropped by, Levi leaped at the chance to spoil Falco, Isabel’s little boy that turned two in two months. Whether it was with cookies, candies, or cakes, he went out of his way to satisfy Falco’s sweet tooth. 

     “I don’t spoil him that much,” Levi said as he slipped his hand into an oven mitt.

     “I think it’s cute how you cave in whenever he asks you for something.”

     “I can’t help it. He’s so small, and he has these chubby little hands and knuckle dimples. And he calls me ‘Wevi.’” He pulled open the oven door and took the cookie sheet out. The sweet smell of vanilla filled the cottage. “Okay, you caught me, he has me in the palm of his chubby hand.”

     I grinned and watched him place the cookies on a cooling rack. I never thought I would get the chance to see him like this, so laid-back and happy. When we lived in the sanctuary, he was always tense and on high alert, a deadly weapon ready for anything. Now he was just a man relearning how to live a normal life. No more fighting. No more hiding. No more living in constant fear. We were free.

     The crunch of snow beneath tires drew my attention away from my mate. Instincts had me up on my feet in a matter of seconds, listening for anything out of the ordinary. Even when I was certain it was Hanji, I needed to make sure. I would never risk the chance of overlooking a potential threat—not after everything we went through to get to where we were now.

     “It’s her,” Levi said at the same time I recognized Hanji’s scent. He must have sensed it through me.

     We both relaxed, letting the moment of uneasiness fall away. Still, his hand clenched around the spatula he held until his knuckles went white. He squeezed his eyes shut and stood there for several minutes, still as stone, then he released a breath and eased his grip.

     “I’m okay.”

     “Are you?” I asked.

     “Yes. It’s just—We’re always by ourselves out here. I’m so used to the silence.”

     “It doesn’t have to be this way. We could always move to Stohess.”

     “No.” The word was a knife, sharp and final. “I won’t live among humans again. They can’t be trusted.”

     Since I’d returned to him, we’d had many discussions about joining our friends in Stohess, the so called safe zone for our kind, but Levi’s answer never changed. He couldn’t bring himself to bridge the gap between us and humans. The war had left behind too many bone-deep fears. Although I shared those same fears, I held onto the hope that one day he’d be open to living there. He deserved to be with the people he cared about most, and seeing them every day would help him recover from the things he had endured during the war.

     My thoughts came to an abrupt halt when Levi’s scent changed. His emotions overpowered mine and flowed through our bond without pause. He was hurting. At first he had isolated himself out here to come to terms with losing me, but now that I was back, he understood there was another reason why he’d chosen to live so far away from the others. He was afraid—afraid that this paper-thin peace wouldn’t last, that he would lose me again, that all we had fought for would be lost in the blink of an eye. To temper those fears, he stayed as far away from humans as possible. He would always see them as the enemy.

     “We don’t have to move to Stohess,” I said in a rush.

     “It’s not that I don’t want to be closer to our friends. I just need more time.” _The wounds are too fresh to consider moving there now,_ he added through our bond.         

     I nodded and the conversation was over.

     He walked to the entryway and pulled down his black toggle coat from the peg it hung on. As he slipped it on, I went over to him and put my hand on the small of his back, drawing him closer to me. I’d fought and fought and fought for these moments with him. It didn’t matter where we lived, as long as I had him by my side, I would be all right.

     “I shouldn’t have brought up Stohess,” I whispered. “I know how you feel about it. Please just... Enjoy your day with Hanji and Isabel. I know how much it means to you when they visit.”

     Sensing my distress, he cupped the side of my face, ran his hand over the stubble on my chin, skimmed his thumb across my bottom lip. Then, standing on tiptoes, he brought our throats together until our mingled scents muddled my thoughts. Smelling my scent on him always put me at ease. “Feeling better now?” he asked, smug faced.

     “You already know the answer to that question.”

     “Come on, then. Let’s go greet them.”

     After I put on my coat, we walked out of the cottage together. The sight that awaited us was one that always left me feeling calm. The place Levi had chosen for us was beautiful, especially at this time of year, when it was covered in snow. And it was still coming down in fine flakes that dusted his dark hair and caught in his eyelashes. I had the strongest urge to touch his cold-reddened cheeks, but then he said, “There they are,” and pointed ahead.

     Hanji’s red jeep came creeping up the side of the hill. When she spotted us, she waved hard enough to knock her glasses off.

     “It’s a good thing she’s not the one driving,” Levi said, shaking his head in disapproval. “She can’t see a damn thing without those glasses.”

     No matter how he spoke about her, he couldn’t hide his true feelings from me. He was happy to see her. It’d been a while since the last time she had come.

     The jeep stopped in front of us and out came Hanji, arms spread wide as she ran up to us. “Levi!” she bellowed.

     “Don’t hug me.”

     She hugged him despite his protests. “You are just as short as I remember you being. Oh!” She pulled back with a jubilant smile on her face. “We brought you a bunch of stuff. Come help me unload it all.”

     “I’ll help,” I said.

     “Then let’s get to it.”

     As I trudged to the back of the jeep, I watched Levi open the back door and lean inside. Falco was in his arms soon after. His expression became soft, unguarded, and when he readjusted the beanie on Falco’s head, a small smile touched his lips. Seeing him with a child made me wonder how our own child would look. Would it be a boy? a girl? Would they inherit more of his traits, or mine? Imagining him pregnant with my child filled me with a profound emotion I couldn’t quite put my finger on.  

     “Don’t just stand there.” Hanji slapped me on the shoulder, bringing me back to reality. She opened the rear door to reveal rows of boxes. “These boxes won’t take themselves in.”

     “Well, I never thought I would see someone order around a royal alpha like that,” Isabel said as she stepped out of the jeep. She looked older since the last time I had seen her.

     Hanji put her hands on her waist. “You should try it sometime. Feels good.”

     “Is that so?” The words left my mouth in a dull, uninterested tone, my omega my sole focus. He must have felt me regarding him, because his eyes lifted to meet mine. A low growl rose from my throat. I wanted to fill him up, to stay knotted deep inside him until I gave him a child of his own. The desire was so strong my skin rippled from tan to pearl as I fought off the urge to shift. My entire body was throbbing.

     “Whoa there,” Hanji said, picking up a box and pushing it against my chest to get my attention off Levi, “you might want to calm down, or your scent is going to make unmarked omegas start popping up out of nowhere.”

     “What?” I blinked, coming back to myself all at once.

     “Your scent, do something about it. With how strong it is, I wouldn’t be surprised if Mr. Omega over there goes into heat.”

     I suddenly became aware of the pheromones I was releasing. They were strong, an unspoken command that twisted my scent into something enticing. Realizing this, my eyes flicked to Levi to find him gritting his teeth. “Shit,” I muttered. “I’ll get it under control. In the meantime, take him inside.”

     She wasted no time in doing what I’d asked. She hurried over and ushered him toward the cottage. But just as they reached the front door, he looked at me over his shoulder. Worry masked his scent.

     _I’ll be fine,_ I sent him.

     He lingered on the front porch, unsure, but then Falco let out an impressive “Wevi!” and the spell was broken. He went inside, and I tipped my head back, gazing up at the pale sky.

     A child, huh? We had spoken about it before, not long after I had returned, but for so long I’d been too unstable to even consider it. I’d fought against the effects of the serum day in and day out, and made slow progress overcoming it. But even now there were days when my mind went blank and the only desires I had were to run, fight, kill. Levi always stayed with me on those dark days, never leaving my side until I came back to myself. He never asked for anything more than to just be with me, but I knew he wanted to have a baby, and so did I.

     “You’ll catch a cold if you stay out here for too long.” Isabel stood in front of the jeep, her cheeks and nose red from the cold.

     “I’ll go in soon.”

     She stuffed her hands into her coat pockets and plodded to where I stood. Her instincts kept her cautious, so her steps came slow and uneasy. When she finally reached me, she said, “It’s hard standing this close to you when your scent is the way it is. Only Levi would dare to pick an alpha as strong as you.”

     “I’m lucky in that regard.”

     “Yes, and so is he. You’ve been through a lot for each other.” She looked at me. “I know it’s none of my business, and maybe I shouldn’t say anything at all, but your scent... The only reason I can think of why you desired him so intensely out of the blue is because you saw him with Falco. Are you guys thinking about having a baby?”

     “I’m not sure. Things are complicated.”

     She picked up a box and turned to leave, but stopped before she’d even taken a step. She kept her back to me as she began to speak. “When I first found out I was pregnant with Falco, I was terrified. We were in the middle of war. So many things could go wrong. So many things _did_ go wrong, but in the end I held on. And then I had him and everything fell into place and made sense.” She paused. “What I’m saying is if I’d let my fears get the best of me back then, Falco wouldn’t be here. Sometimes you just have to keep moving forward, even when you don’t know how things will turn out. You worked hard for this peace. Take advantage of it.”        

     I stood frozen in place as she walked to the cottage, her words playing on repeat in my mind.

     _You worked hard for this peace. Take advantage of it._

     I smiled and shook my head, then gathered the rest of the boxes. When I stepped into my home a short while later, I saw Levi sitting with Falco at the dining table. He had him on his lap, bundled in our beige throw blanket. It didn’t surprise me to see Falco snacking on a cookie. There were crumbs all around his mouth.

     “Oh, you can put the boxes over here,” Hanji said as she gestured to the kitchen counter.   

     Right after I set them down, she started digging through the nearest one. I left her to her own devices and went to sit next to Levi, who made no effort to stop Falco from reaching out and grabbing a handful of my hair. He wrapped it around his tiny fist and tugged, hard.

     “Ow.”

     “He wouldn’t be able to do that if it wasn’t so long,” Levi said.

     “Should I cut it, then?” It had grown past my shoulders.

     He pried open Falco’s hand and occupied it with his finger. “Did I say that? I like it long.”

      “Is he pulling your hair?” Isabel didn’t wait for us to confirm or deny this, she went on, “He has a nasty habit of doing that. He’s always yanking on my hair. I’m surprised I don’t have a bald spot by now.” She stood in the kitchen with her back to us, heating a pot of milk on the stovetop. She gave it a few more stirs, tested the temperature, then poured the milk into a sippy cup. She passed it off to Levi. “I don’t think this will help much. I doubt even warm milk will put this boy down for a nap. Sugar makes him hyper.”

     “Should I not have given him a cookie?” Levi asked, face composed, but his thoughts frantic.

     “No, it’s fine. I want him to stay awake long enough to help you guys decorate your Christmas tree. He had a lot of fun decorating ours.”

     The tree had been my idea. I hadn’t celebrated Christmas since before the war, but that’s not what prompted me to go out into the woods in search of a suitable pine tree to chop down. Finding out Levi never had a proper Christmas, not even as a child, was the reason behind my sudden holiday spirit. I still remembered the way his voice sounded when he’d recounted his childhood to me a few weeks ago. He spoke about his mother fondly, but the pain was evident every time he mentioned her. From what he had told me, she loved him dearly, and tried her best to give him a normal life, but her mate made that impossible. Even on Levi’s birthday—on Christmas—her mate would stop her from buying gifts. The most he got was a small goodie wrapped in old newspaper. And after he lost her, he didn’t care much for the holiday. Not even his birthday mattered much to him.

     I couldn’t blame him for that, but I wanted to give him one good Christmas to look back on; one without any heartache or pain attached to it.

     “Should we decorate the tree now, then?” Hanji asked, voice much louder than it needed to be. “I found the box with all the decorations in it. And look.” She scooped something out, a red plastic ball ornament. White scribbles covered most of it. “Cute, huh? Falco drew it. They’re supposed to be snowflakes.”

     Levi smiled as he took in the small details, a faint smile that barely touched his lips, but changed his expression.

     Without thought, I reached out and cupped the side of his face. When he gave me a questioning stare, I said, “It’s rare to see you smile.”

     “It’s not something worth seeing.”

     _It’s worth seeing to me,_ I said through our bond. _I love your smile._

     _Stop that,_ he sent back. Then, to Falco, “Tell him to stop that.”

     Falco paid no attention to him, preferring to eat the rest of his cookie as messily as possible.

     “Stop what?” Hanji eyes flicked from me to him. When none of us gave her an answer, her face lit up. “Wait, you guys were speaking telepathically, right? You were, weren’t you? I still want to know more about that. It would be interesting to find out how it works. In fact”—she patted her jeans and produced a notepad and pen from her back pocket—“do you mind if I ask you a few questions right now? It’ll only take a few minutes.”

     Levi stood up and carried Falco to the tree.

     “Guess that’s a no.”

     “That’s a definite no,” I confirmed.

     She turned to me. “What about you? We don’t need him to get the ball rolling.”

     “No,” Levi said.

     “I wasn’t talking to—”

     “No,” he repeated, cutting her off.

     “You’re a ripe pain in my ass, Levi.”

     “And you’re a pain in mine,” he shot back.

     Isabel rolled her eyes, squatted by the box of decorations, and started putting everything into separate piles. Hanji took the hint. She gathered up armfuls of lights and brought them to Levi like a peace offering. After he sat Falco down on the floor between his feet, he uncoiled one of the strands of lights and held one end to her. They worked together to string them around the tree.

     I lost track of time watching them. I would have been more than happy to stay like that, a silent observer, but then Levi’s voice cut through the silence.

     _Having fun just sitting around? This was your idea. I thought you’d help out._

I grinned at the pout he was doing his best to hide from me. _You may be complaining, but you’re actually enjoying yourself._

_What part of me looks like it’s enjoying itself, Alpha?_

_You’re so stubborn._

_Just get up off your ass and come help._

“Yes, sir,” I said.

     We finished decorating the tree faster than expected, so we moved on to the interior of the cottage. Falco fell asleep somewhere in between. He was sprawled out on the floor, his sippy cup in one hand, a roll of gold ribbon in the other. Levi picked him up before Isabel noticed her son had dozed off and lay him on the couch, putting a row of throw pillows beside him so he wouldn’t roll off. I kept wrapping garland tinsel around the column by the kitchen island, but my eyes remained on them.

     He would make a great father.

     _I don’t know about that,_ Levi responded to my thoughts.

     _You would._

     He turned to look at me, then gave his head a slight shake. _You would make a better one than me. You’re more patient, more understanding._

     Before I had a chance to say anything back, Isabel caught sight of Falco curled up on the couch and said, “So he fell asleep after all.”

     “He looks just like his dad.” Hanji jumped down from the chair she’d been using as a stepping stool. “That doesn’t surprise me, seeing as Farlan is a relatively strong alpha. His genes are much more dominant than Isabel’s.”

     “Hey,” Isabel said.

     “I’m just saying, no offense.”

     “Does that mean if Eren and I had a child, it would look like him?” This came from Levi, who had spoken the words so softly, it sounded like he’d done it unconsciously. My hunch proved to be spot on. A second later, his eyes widened a fraction and he hurriedly added, “Not that it matters to me. I was just a little curious.”

     I expected Hanji to pounce on the opportunity to embarrass him further, but she surprised me by answering seriously. “I’m not sure if it’ll work that way for you two,” she said. “You guys have been an exception to all the rules so far. I’m sure this will be no different.” She smiled from ear to ear. “I’d love to see a mini Levi running around, though. Can you imagine?” She clapped her hands together. “A little Levi that will actually let me hug them. It’s a dream come true.”

     “Shut up,” he mumbled, shooting me a look that screamed _Do something!_

     I intervened with, “Why don’t we take a break? Have some lunch?”

     “Do you mind if Isabel and I whip something up?” Hanji asked.

     “Have at it.” Levi waved them on.

     When they moseyed into the kitchen, chatting about the things they could make, he came and grabbed the front of my shirt. I let him tow me out of the living room and into the privacy of our bedroom. It was there that he sagged against me. Socializing always left him tired.  

     I ran my hands up and down his back. “Feeling restless?”

     “Mm.” He nuzzled his cheek against my chest, something so affectionate and rare for him to do a rush of desire swept through me. Instead of scolding me for it, as he normally would when others were around, he leaned up on tiptoes and buried his face in my neck. He licked my scent gland, humming in satisfaction when a shiver raced down my spine.

     “Levi,” I said, in warning. He wrapped his arms around my neck and pressed himself closer, ignoring me. “Isabel and Hanji are out there. They’ll be expecting us to come back soon.”

     “You and your infuriating self-control.”

     I kissed the top of his head. “You would be mad at me later if I gave in.”

     “I wouldn’t. I just...” _Hold me for a little while._

I was about to argue my point some more, but then his thoughts came flooding through our bond. They were choppy, mixed up, like he was trying his best to hold them back.

     _A baby. I want a baby. One that looks like Eren, that has his eyes. ...want to get closer... ...to have Eren’s scent on me... ...more... ...need more..._

“Levi?” My voice was husky, a dead giveaway that I was losing my composure.

     “We should get back out there,” he said in a clipped tone. He refused to look at me.

     “Wait...”

     He was out the door before I could finish, his thoughts cut off from me. I sighed. When it came to these types of things, he was quick to close himself off. I would have to wait until Hanji and Isabel left to talk this out with him. Resigned, I walked to the kitchen, all the while thinking about how I wanted to give Levi the family he wanted.

 

...

 

Darkness had fallen and the only light in the cottage came from the Christmas tree. Levi lay in front of it, curled up on the futon he’d brought out from the backroom. He hadn’t spoken a word to me since Isabel and Hanji had left some time ago.

     I walked up to the futon, stopped, and just stood there, clenching and unclenching my hands.

     “Still need my permission, Alpha?” he asked, without turning to look at me.

     “Always,” I said.

     He sighed. “Go ahead.”

     I climbed in beside him. He still didn’t turn to face me, so I ran my hand from the base of his neck, down the line of his spine. His scent became stronger. “Levi...”

     “I’m always afraid of what I want,” he said. “When you wanted to take me away from the sanctuary, I was afraid. When I wanted you as a mate, I was afraid. And now I want a child—I want your child so badly and that scares me more than anything.”

     I put a hand on his shoulder and turned him onto his back, surprised to see tears glistening in his eyes. “What are you afraid of?”

     “The war. If it happens again, will I be able to protect a child with royal blood? They’ll come after our baby, just like they came after you, and I can’t... I can’t bear the thought.”

     “I’m sorry,” I said. It was the only thing I could think to say. This was my fault.

     “Eren?”

     I looked at him, pained.

     “I don’t want to be afraid,” he continued. “Don’t let me be afraid. They’ve already taken away so much from us. Don’t let them take this away from us too.”

     “What do you want me to do?” But even as the words left my mouth, I understood what he wanted. I leaned over him, touched my forehead to his, and whispered in reassurance, “They can’t take this away from us. We won’t let them.”

     “Oh, Eren.” He wrapped his arms around my back and pulled me closer, until I was lying on top of him. “Let’s make a baby.”

     I wanted to give him a baby, someone to love, someone who could stay by his side. And I wanted my likeliness to be in this child, so that if anything ever happened to me, I wouldn’t truly be gone. A part of me would remain with him, always.

     _You don’t have to worry about anything,_ I said as I kissed him. _I will never let anything happen to you. I will never let them hurt you again._

 

 


	2. Warm Like The Sun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't tell you guys how happy I was when I saw that so many of you are still interested in this story. Thank you for the comments, the kudos, and the love. ♡  
> Note: Please keep track of whose POV I'm writing in, as I'm planning to write this story in both Eren's and Levi's POV. It'll always be right next to the date. :)

 [2]

_Monday, December 11, 2017 – Levi_

 

“You should heal these already,” I said as I touched one of the many scratches on Eren’s back.

     He leaned over me, unbothered by them, and buried his face in my neck. “Mm, you left a lot more than usual.”

     The reason behind that was one not even I understood. I’d been half mad last night, so desperate for him my mind had gone blank. I only knew that I needed him—needed his teeth in my skin, his cock inside me, his come filling me up with heat. The desire to be connected to him kept me insatiable. We had mated over and over, moving from the living room to our bedroom, yet it wasn’t enough. Even now it wasn’t enough. I felt so empty without his knot locking us together.

     “I’m going to shower,” I said. If I didn’t put a stop to this conversation now, we would stay in bed all day. That wouldn’t be much of a problem if my heat weren’t right around the corner. We had stuff to prepare before then _._ “You can take one after me.”

     “After?” His lips skimmed across the marks he’d left on my collarbone. Every touch left my skin feeling hot and tingly. “Why not together?” Before I had a chance to give him an answer, he braced his arms on either side of my head and propped himself up. He stared down into my eyes. His gaze was intense, molten. A shock of heat registered in every cell of my body as he continued to look at me.

     “If we...” I swallowed, unable to go on. His scent was commanding me to relinquish control. If it were anyone else, I would have fought against the demand, but it was my alpha, and I trusted him with every part of myself, so I surrendered.

     He shuddered when he realized I’d given in without protest. The movement seemed to bring his royal attributes to the surface, his skin shimmering to a pale shade of pearl that deepened in color as my legs fell open. “My omega,” he said, voice ragged. My body reacted to the sound by creating slick. The scent of it filled the air and drew a groan from him. His eyes, one black, one silver, pinned me to the spot. He knew how much I wanted him. Every last inch of me was buzzing with need, yet he held back.

     _Don’t tell me you’re stopping now?_ I sent him.

     When he made no move to touch me, I locked my ankles behind his back and rolled my hips upward, helpless against the desire he had sparked. My cock rubbed against his, slick with pre-come. I moaned.

     _I need more than this,_ I thought, knowing he would hear it. I arched my back and ground myself against him again. He was so hard. _I want it inside me._

     As I rolled my hips up again, Eren said, “I like seeing you like this.”

     My eyes shot up to meet his. It wasn’t like him to admit things like that straight out. Sometimes in the midst of mating, I would hear thoughts he was trying his best to keep hidden from me. They were always the same. He liked seeing me completely under his control, desperate and needy. But no matter how much I showed him I was okay with it, he hated that part of himself. He believed it was the Alpha serum’s doing, but I knew better. He’d always liked seeing me submit. The reason he never admitted it—not even to himself—was because he was afraid of my reaction. He thought if he behaved like an alpha, I’d run away.

     Like I would ever do that. Perhaps when we first met, but now... Now I liked being at his mercy. With him, I could accept everything that made me an omega.

     “I bet you do,” I said. That seemed to snap him out of it. He went to apologize, but I cut him off with, _I trust you. I know you would never hurt me, or take advantage of me in this state._ Then, aloud, “I’ve never given anyone control over me. I never will, either. Only you. You can have it. You can take me any way you want to.” I reached down and grabbed the base of his cock, loving the hot weight of him in my hand. I rubbed the tip against my wet entrance. “So take me.”

     The force of Eren’s gaze held me in place as he wrapped his arm around my waist. He eased himself back into a sitting position and took me with him, humming in approval when I straddled him.  

     “I’ll go slow,” he said.

     “Slow? I don’t need—” My nails dug into his shoulders as he lowered me onto him. I was so wet. Slick dripped down my thighs, making it easy for him to bury himself to the hilt. I stopped caring about him going slow. It felt so good to have him back inside me.

     “Still have any complaints?” he whispered against my neck.

     “Don’t ask—mm”—he lifted me up, then lowered me back down—“such stupid questions.”

     He chuckled. “Whatever you say.”

     He kept to a slow pace, driving me crazy with every thrust. I needed him to go faster,  harder, to make me feel every second we spent in this bed.

     “Eren,” I breathed, “more.”

     “I was rough on you last night. You must be sore. Let me be gentle now.”

     Gentle? That wasn’t what I wanted, what I _needed._

     Something came over me then, something foreign. It swept through me and set my instincts on fire. I tilted my head to the side and bit into his scent gland, groaning when he swelled bigger, harder. _Fuck me already,_ I demanded through our bond, surprised by the ferocity of my need, but in no way ashamed.

     He leaned back, eyes ablaze as they locked with mine, more alpha than human now.

     _Yes,_ I encouraged. _Give me everything._

And he did.

     With our bodies tangled together, he took up a rhythm that left me breathless. I clung onto him, matching his pace, slamming my hips down as he thrust up.

     “Levi,” Eren said, pressing his lips to mine.

     Our connection became stronger with each passing second. Every sensation was doubled, so intense I had no hope of lasting a second longer. My orgasm washed over me, every wave making my cock jerk. He drew it out, breaking away from the kiss to move his mouth to my neck. Sharp teeth sank into my scent gland. I cried out, flowed without pause from one orgasm to the next, but he didn’t stop. He slammed into me again and again, and just when I thought I couldn’t take anymore, he stiffened, burying himself as deep as he could go as he came. Heat flooded me— _perfect_ —kept inside by his growing knot.

     For several minutes, we stayed as we were, sweating and panting. Then I moved to get comfortable, and he snarled, “Stop.”

     Startled, I went still.

     “Sorry,” he said after a moment. “Just give me a minute.”

     I took his face into my hands and forced him to meet my gaze. His silver eye burned bright. When he understood I knew what that meant, he turned away from me.

     “Hey, don’t hide from me.” I leaned my head on his shoulder. “We’re past that.”    

     He gritted his teeth. “I know we are. I just hate how I can’t control myself sometimes.”

     Through our bond, I felt him fighting an inner battle. It always seemed harder for him to shift back into his normal form after we’d mated. To help him through it, I ran my hands up and down his back, drawing some of his pain into me.

     “Thank you,” he said. His skin had lost some of its pearly hue, but his left eye remained silver. “I’ll be all right. It’s just hard to concentrate on anything when we’re like this.”

     “Well, I can’t help you there. Your knot lasted a lot longer than usual last night. It’ll probably be the same this time around.”

     “Isn’t it obvious why it lasted longer?”

     I eyed him. My face must have given away my confusion, because he started to laugh.        

     “What? What is it?” I asked.

     “You can be so dense sometimes.”

     “I’m going to get mad.”

     “Okay, okay.” He tucked my head in the crook of his neck. “You want a baby. As your mate, I want to give you what you want. My body recognizes that, so...” He wiggled his hips, and his knot pressed tight against my inner walls. “My knot lasts longer.”

     “Oh,” I said, suddenly shy.

     “You’re blushing.”

     “Don’t point it out, idiot.”

     He pulled me in closer with a huge smile on his face. “I love you.”

     “I’m glad you’re feeling better. At least enough to tease me.” Then, through our bond, where it was always easier to talk to him, _I love you, too._

...

 

I looked a complete mess.

     I stood in front of the floor length mirror in our bathroom and scanned my body over in the glass. I had a handful of deep red marks scattered across the insides of my thighs, smeared with blood. There were also bite marks on my throat, my collarbone, even one around my nipple. It wasn’t as bad as the others, but it would hurt a lot more tomorrow.

     “You would think I would remember that happening,” I muttered to myself.

     “Remember what happening?” Eren called from the shower. He had gone in before me.

     “This.” I pulled open the sliding door, letting out a gust of black cherry scented steam, and pointed at my nipple.

     “Oh, that.”  

     “That’s all you have to say?”

     He wrapped his arms around me and lifted me into the shower. The spray of warm water soaked me in seconds, making all the bite marks sting and throb. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’ll put some numbing cream on them once we’re done. Hanji also gave you those pain killers meant for after your heat. You can take some of those.” He kissed all the marks on my neck. “I really didn’t mean to leave so many. Something came over me.”

     “I know. I felt the same way.”

     “Our instincts are probably running wild right now because we want to have a baby.”

     I squirted some shampoo into my palm and worked it into my hair. “Yeah, I think you’re right.”

     Eren took over. He scrubbed my hair clean, rinsed it, then went to work on my body. He was careful, paying close attention to not put too much pressure on the loofah as he passed it over the bite marks. When I was clean, he carried me out of the shower and set me down in front of the sink. “It’s nice to have a shower now,” he said as he reached for a towel. He started to dry me off.

     The shower was a new addition to the cottage. Mike, and a group of people he’d brought over from Stohess, had come a few months back to renovate our bathroom. It wasn’t anything fancy, but it beat only having a tub that had to be filled by hand. It took way too much work to take a simple bath. When Mike heard about it from Hanji, he took it upon himself to make the arrangements to remodel and install a water heater.

     “It’s nice to have hot water, too,” I added.

     He hung the towel up. “You have good friends.”

     “They’re your friends, too.”

     His face fell for a moment. “I know.”

     I knew he was thinking about Armin. We hadn’t seen or heard from him in months. Since he found Jean on the outskirts of Shiganshina, he spent all his time trying to find a cure for the Alpha serum. He would stop at nothing to return Jean to his former self. I understood the reason behind his determination better than anyone. If I were in his position, I would do anything to help my mate. Still, it wouldn’t kill him to answer Eren’s calls every now and again. Why was he cutting him off? Did he blame him for this somehow?

     Eren winced, and I realized, too late, that he was listening to my thoughts. I cursed myself. Armin had been a touchy subject for a good while now.

     “Bend forward,” I said.  

     He did as he was told. I grabbed a towel from the rack and dried his long hair with it. Then I wrapped it around his neck and tugged him down to my height for a kiss.

     “Don’t think about it,” I whispered against his lips.

     “I’ll try not to, but it would be better if I go out and chop some wood for tonight.”

     “In this weather?” It had snowed all night. We also had plenty of wood to last us through the night.

     He smiled a sad smile. _I need to distract myself to take my mind off it._

     I nodded.

     After we dressed, we sat down at the dining table for a simple breakfast of apple cinnamon oatmeal. Eren kept his thoughts blocked from me the entire time. It always happened when it came to Armin, or anyone else from his past. He still blamed himself for what happened to his family, his friends, even when it had always been out of his control.

     I understood it, though. Whenever I thought about my mother—her smile, the way she sang me to sleep, the expression she made when she gave me a present in secret—I remembered her face as she lay dying. Even now I wondered if I could have done something to save her. If I’d been stronger, maybe I would have been able to stop her mate on the day he killed her. But that would never happen. The past couldn’t be rewritten... No matter how much I missed her.

     Eren reached out and cupped my cheek, attuned to my thoughts. I turned my head and kissed his palm. The contact between us soothed me.

     “Don’t go worrying about me now,” I said. The key I’d given him glinted in the morning light. I touched it. “She would have liked you.”

     “Yeah? My mom would’ve liked you, too.”

     My eyes darted up to his. He never spoke of his family.

     Careful, I asked, “What was she like?”

     “She was kind, beautiful, and smart.” He laughed. “I got my stubbornness from her, though. We were a lot alike. We were constantly butting heads, but no matter what happened, I knew she loved me. Whenever I needed her, she was there.” He looked out the kitchen window. “I wish you could’ve met her.”

     I put my hand over his. “Me too.”

     He stayed quiet for a long time, just looking at our hands, then he said, “If the war breaks out again, I won’t let anyone tear our family apart. I won’t let our child lose anyone—not me, and not you.”

     “You can’t know what’s going to happen in the future. You can’t tell that to our child—”

     “I can,” he interrupted, skin flashing to pearl. “For the longest time, I believed I couldn’t do anything to stop the war. But I did stop it.” He clenched his teeth. “I will keep you and our child safe, even if that means stopping the war for a second time.”

     As a royal alpha, Eren was destined to be a leader, someone who could lead an army of alphas. They would follow him anywhere, obey his every command, and give their lives for him if he ordered it. He was someone to fear. He was someone who was more than capable of crushing his enemies. But he was also just Eren, a man who’d been beaten and broken too many times.

     I never wanted to see him hurt, not ever again.

     “If our kid is half as stubborn as us,” I said, “they won’t let you do it alone.”

     He smiled despite himself. “Like I would ever let that happen.”

     “And you think I will?” The tension in the room dissipated. I sagged in relief and gave his hand a little smack. “Still going out to gather some wood?”

     “Yeah.”

     “You better head out, then. It’s going to snow again soon.” I smacked his hand again when he picked up his bowl. “I’ve got the dishes handled. Just go.”

     “Are you sure?”

     I waved him off. “Go, before I change my mind.”

     He pushed back in his chair and stood up with an adorable grin on his face. After he stepped out of the cottage, I got started on the dishes. There weren’t many to wash. I was glad for that. I had someone to call before he came back inside.

     The satellite phone Hanji had given me was right where I’d left it, tucked away in the top drawer of my dresser. With it in hand, I took a seat on my bed. I hadn’t charged the phone in weeks, but when I pressed the power button, the screen lit up without a problem. I dialed Hanji’s phone number.

     She answered on the second ring with, “Quick, check outside! Are pigs flying? I never thought I’d see the day that _you_ call _me._ ” She gasped. “I need a pen. I have to jot this down in my planner.”

     “You are seriously going to make me regret calling you right off the bat, huh?”

     “What? Of course not.” She paused, then, “So, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

     I took a deep breath. I had a lot of questions to ask her, but right now I couldn’t handle her over-the-top personality. Right now I needed her to act professional. “Listen, before we even start this conversation, I called to ask something important. So, I’m going to need you to talk to me as a doctor.”

     “In other words, you need me to be serious?”

     “Yes,” I said.           

     “I understand.”

     Nerves twisted my stomach into a tight knot. To ease the sudden wave of nausea, I picked up Eren’s pillow and hugged it to my chest. His scent gave me immediate comfort. I was afraid to have this conversation, afraid she would tell me that having a child was impossible for someone who damaged their body with suppressants. _You’ll never know if you don’t ask. Get on with it. For Eren. For us._ “You remember what we were talking about yesterday?” I began, hoping she didn’t hear the tremble in my voice. “About...Eren and I having a baby?”

     “I remember.”

     “I don’t know anything about male omegas chances of getting pregnant. I never put much thought into it before, but if—If we were to try, would it even be possible? or did I ruin our chances by taking those suppressants?”

     “I knew you were still worried about that. But like I’ve told you before, all the damage caused by the suppressants has vanished. I can’t explain it myself, but when Eren bonded with you, he healed you. I think it has to do with his royal lineage.”

     “So it’s possible for us...” I trailed off.

     “To have a baby?” she finished. “Yes, it’s possible, Levi. If you don’t believe me, I can run some tests. Give you some peace of mind.”

     “Would I have to go to Stohess to have these tests done?”

     “Nope. You remember my lab out in the mountains?”

     “How can I ever forget?” I said. That was the place her and Armin had injected Eren with the Alpha serum. That was the place I thought I’d lost him forever.

     “Well,” she continued, unperturbed, “I’ve spruced it up. It’s back in tip-top shape. I have all the equipment I need there, so there’s no need for you to come here to Stohess. I can even deliver the baby at the lab, if you want.”

     I buried my face in the pillow. “Don’t get ahead of yourself.”

     “How can I not? I’m so excited! You’re going to look so cute with a baby bump. I’m picturing it now and it’s too much for me to handle. Eren is going to eat you alive.”

     “So much for you staying professional.”

     “Shut up. I can’t help it. My best friend is going to have a baby! When can we meet at the lab? I’ll bring everything you’ll need. Prenatal vitamins, ginger tea, because in the first trimester you’re going to experience morning sickness, and you’ll definitely need a body pillow—”

     “Hanji,” I cut in, “slow down.”

     She blew out a breath. “I’m calm. But which color do you prefer, black or white? Since you’re so small, you’ll need a support belt for your belly when you get bigger. That way you won’t experience any back pain—”

     “Hanji!”

     “Oh, just tell me when we can meet at the lab and I’ll stop.”

     “We can meet this weekend.”

     She made a noise that sounded part squeal, part scream. “Is it okay if I bring Isabel along, or do you want to keep it private?”

     “It’s okay if you bring her. But don’t go telling everyone. I’m not even pregnant yet.”

     “But you can be soon. Your heat is due next week, right? That’s the best time to crack down. You’ll be ovulating.”

     I groaned. “Please don’t ever say the word ‘ovulating’ again.”

     “Why? It’s perfectly normal for a male omega to ovulate during their heat cycle. Don’t be embarrassed.”

     I stood up and caught sight of myself in the mirror above my dresser. The bite on my neck stood out against my fair skin. “So, during my heat can I expect anything different from Eren?”

     “You can expect something different from the both of you. Now that you want to have a baby, your instincts will make you more demanding and aggressive during mating. The same goes for Eren. He’ll be more dominant, more in control of things. He’ll also bite you _a lot_ more.”

     I laughed. “Yeah, I think we figured that out already.”

     She answered that statement with a laugh of her own, then went on to tell me, in great detail, about the things I could do during my heat to help me get pregnant faster. I listened without interrupting, even when she spoke for a long time. By the time she announced she needed to go, Eren had come back inside.

     “I’ll call you tomorrow to let you know what time we can meet at the lab,” she said.

     “Okay, I’ll talk to you then.”

     We ended the call.

     “Is it okay to come in now?” Eren asked, poking his head into the room.

     “Yeah, come here.”

     He came to sit next to me. “Is everything okay?”

     I thought about everything Hanji had told me, how it was possible for us to have a baby. “Yeah,” I said, too happy to hide the smile spreading across my face. A real smile, one that felt too big. “Yeah, everything’s okay.”

     Eren stared and stared at me, like he was memorizing how I looked in that moment. Then he returned my smile and I’d never been happier in my life, sitting here with him in our home, knowing a future we never thought we’d have lay ahead of us.       

  


	3. Family

[3]

 

_Saturday, December 16, 2017 - Eren_

Levi's face remained expressionless as Hanji inserted a needle in the crook of his arm. Blood flowed into the collection tube. When she untied the elastic tourniquet from around his bicep, he looked up at me and noticed my rigid posture. We’d been in the lab for the past twenty minutes. Ten of those minutes had been spent in the room I’d been injected with the Alpha serum. Seeing it again brought back snatches of memory of the all-encompassing pain as the serum burned a path straight to my heart. This was where I had almost lost myself. This was where I had almost lost Levi.

     Something brushed my wrist. I glanced down just as Levi slid his fingers between mine. The weight of his hand brought me back to the here and now. We had made it. The memories of this place couldn’t hurt us anymore. They were all in the past. My future was right here in front of me.

     “That should be enough for now,” Hanji said. She slid the needle out at the same time she pressed a gauze pad down on the spot. She instructed him to keep pressure on it as she discarded the needle in a sharps container.

     “That’s it?” he asked, watching her tape the gauze in place.

     “Yep. This is all I need for the tests I want to do.” She turned her attention to me. “How are you doing? Feeling okay?”

     “Yeah, I’m fine.”

     She smiled. “Good, because the day is not over. I’m going to get these tests started, then I’ll be right back.”

     Levi stood up the second the door shut behind her. He put his hands on my chest. “Are you really feeling okay?”

     “Yeah. Earlier I was just...” I trailed off.

     “Thinking about what happened in this room. I know. We’re bonded, remember? You can’t have any secrets.”

     I put my hands on his waist. “It’s a good thing I don’t want to keep anything from you, then.”

     “Don’t say something that cliché with a straight face.”

     “I mean it, though.”

     He grinned. “I would have taken you more seriously if you didn’t have something in your hair. Come here. Let me get it out.”

     I lowered my head, obedient, and he grabbed the back of my neck, yanking me down to his height. He pressed his lips to mine in a hungry way that took my mind off everything except him. Kissing him transported me far away from the lab. The only thing that mattered to me in those seconds we were connected was the heat of his body and the taste of his mouth. I’d had him so many times, in so many different positions, but I always wanted more.

     “Hanji’s going to be back here soon,” he said, breathless, “and your scent”—his breath hitched in his throat when I bit his neck, right over his scent gland—“is going to give us both away.”

     “And yours isn’t?”

     “Eren, we should stop.” He pulled my hair, which only served to turn me on more. It reminded me of all the times he pulled on it when I was thrusting deep inside of him. God, I wanted him right here. I didn’t care that Hanji was down the hall. I needed to feel him beneath me. The only thing that stopped me from carrying him to the medical cot was the distinct sound of a car engine. My instincts zeroed in on the sound. Too close.

     “Someone’s here,” I said, moving him behind me. The last time we were here, the only cars around were those that belonged to the military, driven by soldiers ready to hunt us down. Even though the logical part of my brain told me that couldn’t be happening now, the memory of that night kept my instincts on overdrive.

     “Who? Can you pick up their scents?”

     “Give me a minute.” I closed my eyes and focused. Levi’s scent hit me first, then Hanji’s, but just beyond that were others. It took me a while to pinpoint the familiar scents. When I did, I told him, “It’s Isabel and Farlan and...” I swallowed. “Armin.”

     “You and that crazy heightened sense of smell.” Hanji came back into the room wearing a scowl. “You ruined the surprise.”

     Levi moved around me to glare at her. “You should have known better than to keep something like this from us. What if Eren had shifted? You know how it can be difficult for him to shift back after _you_ injected him with the Alpha serum.”

     “Hey, it’s okay,” I said. “I’m fine.”

     “It’s not okay. I won’t have her being reckless for the sake of some stupid—”

     I put my hand on the small of his back. That bit of contact calmed him down. “Better?”

     “No.”

     The lie would have fooled anyone but me. Like he’d said earlier, there could be no secrets between us.

     _Don’t get cocky, Alpha,_ he sent me through our bond.

     I kissed the top of his head. _I would never get cocky around you._

 _Uh-huh. Bullshit._ Then, aloud, “Let’s go say hi to a certain blondie.”

     As he led me out of the room, I thought of the last conversation I’d had with Armin. It had been brief. We’d only exchanged a handful of words and none of them touched on the subject of what had kept him locked away since the end of the war. He never brought up Jean, and I hadn’t asked. I felt like it was his decision to make. Maybe that was my mistake. Maybe if I’d talked to him about his mate, he wouldn’t have shut me out of his life for the past six months. How could I face him now? When I wasn’t sure how he felt about our friendship? What if he didn’t even consider me a friend anymore?

     _If that were true,_ Levi said, _he wouldn’t be here now._

I held onto those words as we entered the front room in time to watch the metal door slide open. Isabel came in first, followed by Farlan, who was carrying Falco in his arms. They stepped aside and Armin walked in holding a diaper bag. His eyes went wide when he saw me standing there.

     “Eren,” he said.

     I didn’t know what to say. So, pushing all my doubts aside, I went up to him and wrapped him in a hug. “You have no idea how good it is to see you.”

     He returned my hug, warm tears soaking into my T-shirt. Then he started to talk, but I had a hard time understanding him with how hard he was crying. All I got was, “I’m so sorry” and “I should’ve returned your calls, I just didn’t know how to talk to you, or anyone.”

     “It’s okay,” I said. “It doesn’t matter now.”

     “You don’t hate me?”

     “Of course I don’t.”

     He leaned back and wiped his face with the sleeve of his jacket. “Do you mind if we go somewhere to talk? I have a lot to tell you.”

     “Yeah, we can go outside.”

     “Okay,” he said with a wobbly smile. He passed the diaper bag to Isabel, then slipped out of the lab.

     Before I followed him, I turned to Levi. “I’ll be back in soon.”

     “Go on, then.”

     I touched his chin, the barest brush of my fingers, but his scent changed all the same. Ever since we decided to have a baby, our instincts hadn’t given us a moment’s peace. Everything, from a simple touch to a mere look, awakened our senses and pulled us together. I wanted him all the time. Even now, surrounded by our friends, my instincts were begging me to take him. I knew this desperation wouldn’t let up until he was carrying my child.

     The thought of a child made me glance down at his flat stomach. I reached out to press my hand against it, but stopped when his voice cut through my thoughts.

     _Armin’s waiting,_ he said. _Not to mention that everyone in this room is backed against the wall because of your scent._

_You’re exaggerating._

_Don’t believe me? Take a look._

I turned around, expecting to see Farlan and Isabel where they were a minute ago, but, like Levi had said, they were backed against the wall. “Sorry,” I told them.

     Farlan shrugged it off. “No worries.”

     “And you thought I was lying,” Levi said. He jerked his head in the direction of the door. “Go talk to him.”

     I leaned down and bumped my forehead against his. _I won’t be long._

A gust of cold wind nipped at my cheeks as I stepped out of the lab. I found Armin sitting at the lip of the cliff, his feet dangling over the edge. I sat down next to him. The landscape before us had been transformed by snow.

     “The last time we were here,” I began, “everything was blooming.”

     “I remember.”

     We lapsed into silence. I gave him that time. Whatever he came out here to say would take a lot out of him. He had to work up to it, so I sat there without saying a word.

     “I’ve been a bad friend,” he said.

     “Armin, no. You’ve been—”

     “Let me finish. Please.” He waited. When it was clear I understood what he wanted, he went on, “I haven’t been there for you. Everything that happened on the last day we were here—None of it was your fault. You let Hanji inject you with the Alpha serum, because you trusted my judgement. I told you half would make it easier for you to fight the effects. And you know what? That was a lie. I told you that because I thought it would save Jean.” He looked at me, tears glistening in his eyes. “How could I face you after I did that?”

     I put my hand over his. “I forgive you.”

     “No. I don’t deserve your forgiveness. Jean doesn’t deserve it. We both betrayed you.” He stood up. “You almost lost yourself to the serum, all because I selfishly clung onto my mate. And for what? They injected him with the serum anyway.”

     I got to my feet. “You’re forgetting the part where none of it was your fault, either.” I grabbed him by the shoulders to stop him from pacing. He looked up at me, agonized. “The reason I forgive you is because I would have done the same thing in your position.”

     “But I...” His voice cracked around the words. “I didn’t save him.” He started shaking his head. “But there’s a way. I think I found a way.”

     “Armin, slow down. What are you talking about?”

     With wide, frantic eyes, he said, “Your blood.”

     “What?”

     “Think about it. No other alpha has been able to resist the effects of the serum, but you have. I thought that was because of your royal lineage, which it is, but that didn’t explain Levi.”

     Now he had my full attention. “What about him?”

     “Before you bond marked him, he was dying because of the suppressant Hanji created. I couldn’t understand how marking him healed him. Then it clicked. He had to bite you in return and—”

     “He drank some of my blood,” I finished.

     He nodded. “I don’t know if it’ll work. I’m grasping at straws, at this point. But if there’s a chance that it can cure him—I have to try.”

     The memory of Jean fighting off soldiers to give me enough time to kill the man that mattered swam to the forefront of my mind. That had been the last time I’d seen him. I thought about that day so often. Without his help, I wouldn’t have succeeded in taking down Shiganshina. I wouldn’t have ended the war. If anyone deserved the cure to the Alpha serum, it was him.

     “Take as much of my blood as you need,” I said.

     “It might not work.”

     I grabbed his hand and squeezed it. “Or maybe it will.”

     Our conversation was interrupted by Hanji bursting out of the lab and hollering, “The food is getting cold! Considering Isabel spent hours making it this morning, I suggest coming inside and enjoying it while it’s hot!” With that, she disappeared inside again.

     Armin laughed. “I guess that’s our cue to get back inside.”

     “Yeah,” I agreed.

     The scene that greeted us when we entered the lab reminded me that, although I had lost so much during the war, I had also gained plenty. These people were my family now. Hanji, with her wild laugh as she slapped a spoonful of mashed potatoes onto her plate. Farlan, with his bright smile as he bounced Falco on his knee. Isabel, sighing as she tried to feed a bouncing Falco, and Armin, who sat among them like he belonged there. All of them were special to me. And the person who was my life, my partner, my lover, my friend, he hadn’t touched his food because he was waiting for me.

     _Don’t make me wait any longer,_ Levi said in response to my thoughts.

     I smiled, happy. _I wouldn’t dare._

\---

 

Stuffed, Levi and I relaxed on the hood of Hanji’s jeep while we waited for everyone else to finish up eating. He had brought Falco out with us, bundled up tight in a heavy winter coat that made him look like a miniature Michelin man.

     “Look at him. He’s getting so strong.” Levi stood Falco up on his legs, holding onto his hands to keep him steady. “What do you think he’s going to be?”

     We wouldn’t know what Falco was until he hit puberty. Until then, we could make all the guesses in the world and wind up being wrong. But I decided to humor him.

     “An alpha,” I said.

     Levi picked Falco up and nuzzled his chubby cheek. “I think so, too. Are you going to be an alpha, huh? Or maybe an omega like your mommy. What do you think?”

     Falco’s face scrunched up tight. That wouldn’t have been alarming if he wasn’t grunting too.

     “Is he...?” I trailed off.

     “Taking a shit?” Levi finished. “Yeah, I think he his.”

     “Should we get Isabel?”

     “No, it’s okay. I’ll take him inside.” He slid off the hood and walked into the lab. I would have gone in after him, but Farlan came out and handed me an opened can of beer.

     He opened his own. “When’s the last time you had one of these?”

     “Since before the war.”

     “Same here,” he said. “I figured now’s as good a time as any to have another one.” He raised his can and waited for me to do the same before he added, “To freedom.”

     “To freedom.”

     We clinked our cans together and drank deep. It tasted bitter, but reminded me of simpler times when I believed being an alpha made me no different from being human. A memory resurfaced as well, one where I was at my childhood home with Mikasa and Armin. Armin had drunk himself stupid. Mikasa and I, on the other hand, had a higher alcohol tolerance. We matched each other can for can, and still weren’t drunk by the time we polished off all my dad’s beer. He was furious when he came home from work and found us surrounded by empty cans.

     I shut my eyes. Remembering Mikasa and my father hurt. I would give anything to have them here with me now.

     “That tastes shittier than I remember it tasting,” Farlan said.

     I laughed. “Tastes like piss.”

     “Want another one?”

     “Sure.”

     He clapped me on the shoulder. “Come inside. Hanji’s fridge is filled with this stuff.”

     I didn’t expect to find Levi downing a shot when the metal door slid open. He tapped the glass on the table and slid it over to Hanji, who was holding a bottle of bourbon.

     “That won’t get me drunk,” he said.

     She topped off his glass. “Another one, then.” She spied me. Immediately her hand reached for another shot glass. “Eren, care to join us?”

     “No,” Levi answered for me.

     “Afraid I’ll out drink you?” I teased.

     He raised an eyebrow. “Are you challenging me, Alpha?”

     “What if I am?”

     He gestured to the seat opposite his. “Sit down.”

     “This is going to be fun,” Hanji said as she filled the other glass. She set it in front of me. “Drink up.”

     I picked up the glass and tossed the fiery liquid back in one gulp. When I set it on the table, Levi emptied his. It went on like that for the next twenty minutes. I still hadn’t reached my limit, and judging by how Levi appeared unfazed, despite his flushed cheeks, I’d say he hadn’t reached his, either.

     “I think we should cut you guys off,” Farlan said. “You finished the bottle.”

     Hanji looked disappointed. “Do you guys even feel anything?”

     “No,” Levi said at the same time I said, “Not a thing.”

     “What a waste of a perfectly good bottle of bourbon. I was expecting drunk confessions, but of course a royal alpha, and an omega that defies all logic, can’t get drunk. I don’t know why I’m surprised by this.” She gathered up the empty glasses and went to dump them in the industrial sink. All the while, Levi kept his eyes trained on me. Through our bond, I sensed how he appreciated my ability to hold my liquor. He’d been expecting me to get plastered three shots in.

     _You expected me to be a lightweight?_ I asked.

     He shrugged. _Perhaps._

_Disappointed?_

_Anything but._ He pushed the sleeves of his grey shirt up past his elbows. _It’s hot in here._

_It’s not, you just drank too much._

“You’re doing it again! I can tell!” Hanji came rushing up to the table with a notepad in hand (how many of those did she have on her?). “You guys were speaking telepathically. Tell me all about it. Spare no details.” Her pen hovered over the yellow paper as she waited for us to divulge all the secrets of our bond.

     To my surprise, he appeased her. Maybe the alcohol was loosening him up more than I thought. “It started after your sorry ass injected him with the serum,” he said. “Eren was so desperate to communicate with me that he spoke directly into my mind using our bond. It was hard for me to talk back to him like that at first, but now it’s become second nature.”

     “Fascinating.” She jotted all this down at the speed of light. “What else can you share through your bond? Emotions?”

     “Yes. When Eren feels something, I feel it, too.”

     “Like it’s your own emotion?”

     “That depends on how intensely he’s feeling it.”

     “So during sex—”

     “And that’s where I cut you off,” I intervened.

     She groaned. “Eren, seriously?”

     “You’re taking advantage of a tipsy man.”

     She tucked the notepad back into her back pocket. “The only reason I’m not pushing for further information is because I have another surprise for you. Wait here.” She disappeared into one of the backrooms.

     “Would you have answered that if I hadn’t stopped her?” I asked Levi, who had pushed his chair right next to mine.

     “Of course not.” He turned to me and tilted his head to the side. _You didn’t scent mark me this morning._

I rubbed my wrist against my scent gland, and then mirrored the movement on his gland. Marking him like this made him feel restless. He wanted to rub our throats together, to cover himself with my scent, but seeing how we’d been reacting to each other lately, I didn’t think that was such a good idea. Farlan and Isabel already had to deal with my scent once today. I didn’t want to force them into a corner again.

     _The other side too,_ he urged, nuzzling against my wrist.

     I marked the other side, then withdrew my hand before I lost control of myself.

     “Okay!” Hanji boomed as she returned from the backroom. She had something hidden behind her back. “I bought this online. It cost me about fifteen bucks, so it’s a bit cheapy looking, but it’ll get the job done.” She presented her surprise, which happened to be a fake pregnant belly someone could strap around their stomach. “I wanted to see how Levi would look! Get up, get up.” She signaled with her hands. “Try it on.”

     Levi blinked. “Hell no.”

     “No, come on,” she insisted.

     As they bickered, I stared at the fake pregnant belly and imagined Levi with a real one. The emotion that swept through me in that moment was so intense my skin shimmered to a silvery-pearl. I tried to put a stop to it, but it was no use.

     The sudden change in my scent must have confused him, because he turned toward me. He took one good look at my face and said, “Oh, for fuck’s sake. Give it here.” He snatched the belly out of Hanji’s hand. Then he stood up and lifted his shirt. She took over from there, strapping the belly in place and then lowering his shirt over it. She patted it with affection.

     “You look so adorable,” she said.

     He ignored her, his eyes on me. “What do you think?”

     Think? He wanted me to think right now? The only thing my brain allowed me to do was reach a hand out to lay it reverently on the swell of the false belly. Even when I knew it wasn’t real, I felt on the verge of tears. After I lost my mom and dad, I never thought I’d have a family again. Now I had Levi and soon...

     _You’ll be a daddy,_ Levi said.

     The first tear trickled down my cheek. “Yeah, and you’ll be one, too.”

     We would both get a second chance at having a family.   

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can thank Raiza for the mini drink off scene. Bouncing off ideas with her in our Discord chats has been fun. I'm sure she'll inspire many other scenes, as well. :)

**Author's Note:**

> Social media info: [✉](https://dressedindarkness.carrd.co/)


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